


The Life and Times of Michael Underscore-Beloved

by ImperialKatwala



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adoption, Almost forgot that one but it's important, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, I am playing fast and loose with de-zombifying mechanics, No death!! No sadness!! Just hotel rivalries and Michael being adorable!!, Ranboo and Tubbo are platonically married, Ranboo can speak Ender, Toby Smith | Tubbo Has Horns, Tubbo has scars from the festival, Video Game Mechanics, awesamdad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29892363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialKatwala/pseuds/ImperialKatwala
Summary: Ranboo and Tubbo adopt a child. The first thing they do is make sure he isn't a zombie anymore, and the second thing they do is promise to keep him happy and safe forever.A slice of life au where everyone gets along because Michael would be sad if they didn't.
Relationships: Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Ranboo & Tubbo & Michael
Comments: 102
Kudos: 780





	1. De-Zombification

"Okay," Ranboo said nervously, checking their pile of supplies one last time. "I think we're ready."

"You've done this before, right?" Tubbo asked, picking up one of the potions and swirling it around.

Ranboo nodded. "On villagers, yeah, I still don't know if this will work on a zombie piglin."

Tubbo glanced over at the tiny piglin in the corner of the house, sitting passively in a boat, far, _far_ too still for comfort. "It's worth a try."

"Yeah. It's worth a try. I've got the apple, if you've got the potion?"

Tubbo nodded grimly. He made sure neither of them were in range, then splashed a potion of weakness into Michael's boat.

Ranboo gave it a moment to take hold, then grabbed a golden apple and a knife from the pile and stepped over to Michael. He knelt down, cut a slice out of the apple, and handed it to the piglin.

Automatically, mechanically, Michael took the slice and began to gnaw on it.

Ranboo kept feeding him slices of apple, even handing him the core once the rest of the fruit was gone. Then he put the knife away and stood up, wiping the juice off of his hands. "Now we wait."

Tubbo grabbed Ranboo's sleeve, tugged him over to the sofa, made him sit down, and laid down with his head in his platonic husband's lap.

Ranboo chuckled quietly, running a hand through Tubbo's hair. "Okay, this works."

"How long does the healing process usually take?"

"It varies." Ranboo scratched gently around the bases of Tubbo's horns in a way he knew made Tubbo relax. "Sometimes it just takes a few minutes, sometimes it can take an hour. Magic is tricky."

Tubbo let out a pleased hum. "Well, I'm okay with waiting if we can just sit here the whole time."

"Just remember it might be different with Michael," Ranboo reminded him. "This isn't a piglin cure, we don't know what it will do or how fast it'll go."

Suddenly, Tubbo gasped and sat up a little. "Ranboo, _look!_ "

Red particles were drifting off of Michael, and he was starting to shake slightly. Textbook signs of a cure in progress.

Ranboo couldn't help but grin. "Well, it's working! That's a start."

"It's working," Tubbo breathed, staring wide-eyed at their soon-to-be son. "Boo, it's working."

"Yeah, it is!" Ranboo let out a small laugh, starting to card his fingers through Tubbo's hair again.

"Do we have enough stuff for him?" Tubbo grabbed Ranboo's other hand, squeezing it tight, and turned to look up at him. There was some mixture of panic and excitement in his eyes, topped with the realization of _this is really happening._

Ranboo glanced at Michael, then nudged Tubbo to his feet. "Let's go look, come on. We can look over his room and make sure everything's set for when the process finishes."

Tubbo hesitated. "But what about Michael? We need to be here when he wakes up, I don't want him to be alone -"

"Bee, it'll be okay. Look, nothing's really changed about his appearance yet, right?"

After a moment of inspection, Tubbo slowly shook his head.

"I'm willing to bet that it'll take a lot longer than normal," Ranboo told him gently. "We have time, Bee. Let's go make sure we're ready for him, okay?"

"... Okay."

They were ready for him, as it turned out; they had been planning for this for a while now, after all. They spent twenty minutes bickering about the location of the bed anyway, before Tubbo abruptly realized how long it had been and darted downstairs to check on Michael.

Not much had happened. The particles were still there and he was still shaking, so the process was still going, and there seemed to be a little less exposed bone on his limbs, but other than that there wasn't much of a difference.

"... I want it to be over," Tubbo admitted quietly. "I want him to just be alive already, so we can take him upstairs and give him the sweaters we got and adopt him properly."

Ranboo put an arm around his shoulders and guided him back to the couch. He searched for some sort of distraction and finally settled on "What do you want him to call you?"

"What?"

"Well, we can't both be Dad," Ranboo pointed out. "Papa would probably be a good word, we can rock-paper-scissors for it."

Tubbo laughed quietly. "It'll have more weight if Michael picks the names, I think."

"Yeah," Ranboo agreed, and suddenly his chest felt like it was about to burst with how much he cared about the two people in this room. Michael wasn't even _alive_ yet, how was it possible for Ranboo to care so much about him?

Tubbo snuggled a little further into Ranboo's side and frowned thoughtfully. "Do you think he'll be able to understand us? Or will he just speak piglin?"

"Honestly, probably piglin. But we can teach him, it'll be fine," Ranboo assured him.

"Gonna teach him curse words first," Tubbo muttered, a mischievous glint in his eye.

That startled a laugh out of Ranboo. "Tubbo, _no,_ he's like three!!"

Tubbo giggled. "Tubbo _yes!_ He's gonna learn them anyway, you know how many people curse on this server!"

"How dare you, I'm going to take our son to live with BadBoyHalo -"

Tubbo's laughter tapered off, and he smiled up at Ranboo. "Michael's gonna be our son. We have a son."

"We have the _best_ son."

"The best son ever!" Tubbo agreed happily.

The conversation drifted for a while, both of them watching Michael and murmuring about whatever came to mind. It was really nice, and Ranboo relaxed into the calmness that he only really felt around Tubbo. Even when his husband was at his most chaotic, there was always an undercurrent of _something_ that put Ranboo at ease.

Tubbo was the one who got them food - just some steak and some berries from Ranboo's berry bushes - but as the hours wore on, Ranboo had to convince Tubbo to go to bed.

"I _told_ you, I'm not going to bed until Michael's better!" Tubbo huffed. "What if he wakes up in the middle of the night?"

"Then I'll come get you."

"Why do you get to stay up and watch him when I can't?"

"Bee, I don't need as much sleep as you. You know that, I've told you that," Ranboo reminded him gently.

Tubbo folded his arms and pouted. "It's still not fair."

Ranboo hesitated, then offered "You can sleep on the couch, if you want? That way I can wake you up immediately if something happens. And if I get tired we can swap out."

"Hmm." Tubbo thought for a moment, then poked Ranboo in the chest. "You _promise_ to wake me up if anything changes?"

"I promise."

"Fine." Tubbo disappeared upstairs for a minute, then came back down with a pillow and a blanket and curled up on the couch. Ranboo blew out the lanterns and settled in for a night of waiting.

Time was liquid, in those hours. The particles were hypnotizing to watch, and Ranboo knew he probably lost hours just watching them drift off of Michael. Once he was certain Tubbo was asleep, he scooted closer to the boat and began murmuring in the language of Endermen, something he didn't remember how he knew. He told Michael that he was doing really well, that this could take a while and that was okay, that he was sorry if it hurt. He told him about Tubbo, and Snowchester, and Tommy, and Techno and Phil. There was something very comforting about sharing such a private part of himself with the child he and Tubbo had claimed as their own.

Eventually, Ranboo blinked out of another particle-watching period and realized that it had gotten lighter outside. It took another hour or so for the visibility in the room to come back, and as soon as it did, Ranboo immediately began looking Michael over.

The cure was definitely doing something. His eye was glazed over, but there was something behind it, now, rather than the empty nothingness of a zombie's gaze. The green patches of skin were almost entirely gone, and most of the major holes in his body had healed up. Admittedly, his skull was still visible, and he was still missing an eye and an ear, but that was... fine? Hopefully?

Tubbo mumbled something into the couch cushions, then sat up, bleary-eyed. His hair was a rat's nest, and Ranboo had to stifle a laugh. "It's morning?"

"Yeah. Come look, there's some progress!"

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Tubbo scrambled over to Ranboo, sitting down in front of the boat and examining their son. "He's less green."

Ranboo nodded happily. "And less full of holes!"

"Oh," Tubbo breathed, and that was a painful oh, there were bad memories behind that sound. "Look."

The unhealthy skin had healed without any visible marks, but the areas where bone had been exposed had some rather large patches of scar tissue over them. One on his arm, one on his leg, one on his ribs.

Tubbo's hand went almost automatically to his face, running a finger along his own scar tissue.

"He's gonna think it's so cool you match with him," Ranboo murmured, putting an arm around Tubbo and trying very hard to not sound like he was about to cry. "We can make it normal for him, tell him they're signs that you were really brave. He's not gonna grow up thinking it's weird or something he has to hide."

"No. Never," Tubbo sniffed. "Perfectly normal."

Ranboo nodded. "Perfectly normal. Just like the fact that he's not human and speaks a different language."

"But... I only know one language," Tubbo protested, brow furrowing in confusion.

Ranboo cleared his throat, then quietly warbled "Hello."

Tubbo gasped. "You speak Enderman!!"

"Yeah, some," Ranboo admitted, switching back to human. "It, um, tends to make people uncomfortable, so I um. Usually. Don't."

"Say more things!!" Tubbo demanded excitedly, leaning forward on his hands.

Ranboo fought down a flustered warble by clearing his throat again. "Um. What do you want me to say?"

"What's my name in Enderman?"

Ranboo thought for a moment, then hesitantly said "Clever mischief maker."

"And what's yours?"

"Forgetful half-Ender," Ranboo told him more confidently.

Tubbo leaned against the side of Michael's boat, grinning. "What about Michael?"

Ranboo hummed thoughtfully. "I don't think I can give him an Ender name yet. It's... They're usually based on, like, personality, so kids don't really have names. They're just sort of called kids."

"Oh, cool. Can you just... say things? Anything, really, I just think you sound really cool."

"I... Yeah, sure, I guess." Ranboo paused, trying to think of something to say, then began telling the first story he thought of. "Once, there was a half-Ender and a mischief-maker. They went to the place of fire, and as they traveled, they found a piglin child."

Tubbo listened, starry-eyed, as Ranboo retold the story of finding Michael and bringing him home. He finished at the present, with sitting next to a boat on the floor and waiting for the cure to finish.

"That was awesome," Tubbo told him, and there was a weight to the words that said he was being completely sincere.

Ranboo blushed and pulled his knees up to his chest. "It wasn't anything special, really, just us finding Michael."

"Awwww!"

An embarrassed warble rumbled in Ranboo's throat, and he buried his face in his knees.

Tubbo scooted over and rested his head on Ranboo's shoulder. "You're gonna be a good dad."

"So are you." Ranboo didn't care if his voice was muffled, he needed to say it.

"... What time is it?"

Ranboo glanced up at the window. "Um... getting to midmorning, I think."

Tubbo nodded decisively and stood up. "I'm gonna make us breakfast. You keep watching Michael."

They had a lazy morning, eating breakfast and talking and watching over their son. It was relaxing, and Ranboo almost managed to shake off the nerves of becoming a parent soon.

Then the particles dissipated and Michael slumped to the bottom of the boat.

Tubbo lurched forward with a gasp, and Ranboo was right behind him.

With slightly shaking hands, Tubbo scooped up their son and pulled him out of the boat.

The patch of visible skull was smaller, but it was still there, and the cure hadn't replaced his eye or his ear. Ranboo realized with a sinking heart that he would be without them forever. He was also _breathing,_ and curled against Tubbo's chest like a normal child.

Tubbo looked up at Ranboo with tears in his eyes. "Boo, he's alive."

"It worked," Ranboo agreed softly, full of too many emotions to name, reaching out and running a gentle hand over the fur on top of Michael's head.

Later, when Michael woke up, they would give him a warm sweater to ward off the chill of Snowchester, give him some food, and try to get him settled in as best they could. But for now, they just sat there on the floor, a little family of three for the first time.


	2. Uncle Tommy

Tommy adjusted his safety vest as he stepped out the front doors of the Big Innit Hotel, smiling up at the scaffolding that was temporarily covering the outside of the building. Sam Nook was updating the hotel, making it even better, a must with a rival hotel on the block.

He took a moment to scowl at the Bee n' Boo Hotel. Traitors.

They... weren't actually traitors, not really, but that wasn't the point! It was about the _principle_ of the thing!

Suddenly, he felt a gentle tug on his pant leg. Tommy flinched away almost despite himself, stepping back to see what it was.

A tiny zombie piglin blinked up at him. They were so _small,_ only coming up to his knees, and they looked shockingly alive for being dead. They were holding a little stuffed chicken.

"... Hello?" Tommy said hesitantly.

They made a tiny little snuffling sound.

Tommy crouched down so he was closer to the kid's eye level. "What're you doing here? This is a hard hat area only, you'll need to put on safety gear."

They just blinked at him, tilting their head to one side.

What was Tommy supposed to do with a _literal child_ wandering around his hotel?? He frowned for a moment, thinking, then brightened as an idea occurred to him. Sam could help! "Hey, want to go on a little adventure, buddy?"

The little zombie (?) piglin made a small oinking sound at him, and it almost sounded like they were excited.

"Here, you'll need this, or Sam Nook will get upset with you." Tommy took off his hard hat and carefully set it on the kid's head. It was really big on them, but that was okay, it just meant more of them was safe! He stood and offered them a hand.

Luckily, they seemed familiar with the gesture, because they grabbed his hand and happily followed him as he led them up to the higher floors of the hotel.

Sam Nook was working on one of the top-floor suites, and he turned to look at them as they walked up to the door. "Ah, young TommyInnit! Do you need something? Where is your hard hat?"

"Lent it out." Tommy nudged the kid forward a pace so Sam Nook could see them. "Found a kid, I thought you might have some idea what to do with them."

Sam Nook considered the kid for a moment, then nodded. "I see. I shall contact Awesamdude immediately. He will want to know about this."

Sure enough, there were footsteps on the stairs a few minutes later, and Sam appeared, looking harried.

By that time, Tommy had been given a new hard hat, and he was teaching the kid how to play tag. It was going... not _well_ , per se, the kid kept stumbling and wobbling over, but they seemed to be having fun chasing Tommy around.

"Where did you find a child?" Sam asked in astonishment as they came to a stop in front of him.

Tommy shrugged, trying to look like this wasn't a big deal and he wasn't freaking out about it. "Just in front of the hotel. They were just kinda wandering around, and I didn't know what to do with them, so I came to ask Sam Nook."

"Good thinking," Sam told him, kneeling down in front of the kid. "Hey, kiddo. Where are your parents?"

They just blinked at him, pushing up their borrowed hard hat and hugging their stuffed chicken to their chest (they'd refused to let go of it).

"They haven't said anything since I found them, and I'm not sure they understand us," Tommy informed him.

"How'd you get them up here, then?"

Tommy held out his hand, and the kid happily hurried over to take it.

Sam blinked. "Huh."

"If they're comfortable around us but can't understand us, they're probably really used to being led around," Tommy reasoned.

There was a soft sound from outside.

The kid's ear twitched, and they let go of Tommy's hand to stumble over to the window. Tommy followed slowly.

"Oh," he realized, looking down at the two figures running around outside. "That's Tubbo and Ranboo yelling. Why are they yelling?"

The kid patted their hand against the glass and squeaked, then headbutted it softly.

Sam walked over and looked out the window as well, frowning. "They look pretty frantic... are they looking for the kid, do you think?"

"They might be! Let's go find out." Tommy took the kid's hand and led them gently to the stairs, trying to ignore the heartbreaking whine as they were pulled away from the window. "We're going downstairs, it's alright. You'll get to see outside properly, without glass in the way!"

The kid seemed to realize after a minute that they were going back outside, and they perked up considerably, starting to ramble in little snorts and grunts. Tommy nodded along, giving them responses like " _Really?_ " and "I see, I see" whenever they paused.

Finally, they reached the front door, and Tommy led the kid outside. He cupped one hand around his mouth and shouted " _HEY TUBBO!!_ "

"Not now Tommy!!" Tubbo called back, looking almost desperate as he darted around. Then he did a double take, looked back at Tommy, screeched " _MICHAEL!_ " and started sprinting over as fast as he possibly could. Ranboo was a little further away, but his long legs meant that when he started sprinting too, he was much faster than Tubbo.

The kid squeaked happily, letting go of Tommy's hand to launch themself at Ranboo.

"Oh thank goodness," Ranboo murmured, hugging the kid like something precious about to shatter. "Thank goodness."

Tubbo ran up and tackled the two of them, wailing, holding them tight tight tight. It reminded Tommy, inexplicably, of the way he'd held Tubbo after what had been dubbed the Red Festival.

Ranboo looked up at Tommy. "Thank you so much. Where'd you find him?"

"He was wandering around outside my hotel," Tommy explained. "And I wasn't quite sure what to do with a kid, so I gave him a hard hat and took him to see Sam. Then we heard you yelling and came to see what was the matter."

"We turned around and he was gone!" Tubbo sniffed, burying his face in the thin layer of fur on top of the kid's head.

"Is he yours, then?"

Ranboo nodded. "We found Michael in the Nether and de-zombified him, mostly, and then we adopted him."

Tommy hummed thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, right, you two are married now."

Tubbo sniffled again, but he smiled and held up his hand to show off his colorful plastic ring. "Yeah. Platonic married."

"Listen, Tubbo, because he's your husband it's fine, but don't start getting any ideas about having another best friend, alright? That's my job," Tommy told him firmly. _No one_ was going to step on his toes as Tubbo's best friend.

"Okay," Tubbo giggled, and good, it looked like he wasn't upset anymore.

Michael squeaked, patting Ranboo's arm, and tapped his hard hat proudly when he had his attention.

"Very nice," Ranboo said, and he _sounded_ like a proud dad.

Tommy waved a dismissive hand. "He can keep that, Sam Nook has plenty."

Ranboo smiled at him. "Thank you, Tommy, really. We were so worried."

"It's whatever. No big deal."

"Alright, I think it's time to go home, Michael," Tubbo cooed, rubbing a thumb along the base of Michael's ear. "Say bye-bye to your Uncle Tommy."

_Uncle Tommy._ That had no reason to feel like a punch to the chest, to make his eyes sting and his breathing go funny for a minute. It had no reason to feel so down-to-his-bones good, like he'd done something good and important. But it did.

"Bye, Michael," Tommy told him, pushing past the moment of emotion. Then he glanced up at Tubbo and Ranboo. "You know, you can bring him to visit sometime, I won't mind."

Tubbo beamed at him. "We will. Thank you again."

Ranboo took Michael's hand, and Tubbo took the other, and they led him gently away, murmuring to him and to each other.

Sam chuckled quietly from the doorway of the hotel. "Uncle Tommy, huh?"

"Tubbo said it, not me!" Tommy was absolutely _not_ being defensive, he _wasn't,_ and pushing past Sam into the hotel so he could go work on something else was just _practical._ "He's very clingy, you know."

"I'm proud of you, Tommy."

Tommy stopped dead. He felt frozen for a moment before glancing back over his shoulder at Sam. "... What?"

Sam walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling. "You found a random kid outside your hotel, and instead of ignoring him, you made sure he was safe, you brought him to an adult, and you made sure he got back to his parents. That was a really mature thing to do, and I'm proud of you."

Forget being called Uncle Tommy, if Sam didn't shut up right now Tommy was going to start crying. "W-Whatever, just didn't want anyone to sue the hotel, it's not a big deal."

"Alright," Sam relented, though he was still smiling. "C'mon, let's go do some of the tasks Sam Nook gave you."

Okay, that was something he could do. Tommy started listing off his responsibilities for the day, leading Sam back outside so they could go on a supply run.

And if he started thinking of things he could do to make the hotel better for a kid, then no one else needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I adore Uncle Tommy as a concept


End file.
